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The jump to freelanceJohan Ronsse - Bizcamp Belgium - 11 december 2010
Tuesday 14 December 2010
The jump to freelance / version 2010-12-10
Hi, I’m Johan!
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Webdesigner, 4 years
About
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Tuesday 14 December 2010
Webdesigner for 4 years
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Webdesigner, 4 years
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Projects over time: small, big, bigger
Tuesday 14 December 2010
[Slide: big: AB Concerts]
Tuesday 14 December 2010
[Slide: bigger: Gazet van Antwerpen]
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Tuesday 14 December 2010
Started working 4 days a week one year ago, set up company
Wolf’s Little Store
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Wolf’s Little Store
Easy:
The easy part
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Easy: ondernemingsloket
The hard part
Hard: find a good accountantTuesday 14 December 2010
Hard: find a good accountant
Now: preparing for fulltime business
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Now preparing for fulltime freelancing
Why freelance?
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Tuesday 14 December 2010
Why freelance?
Choose the projects you want to do
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Choose the projects you want to do
What would you work on if you had the choice?
?
Tuesday 14 December 2010
What would you work on if you had the choice?
iOS user interface
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iPhone user interface (slide: iPhone UI)
Game design
http://glitch.com
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Game design (slide: Glitch)
In a company:
Little influence on what you end up working on (whatever got through sales funnel)
Sometimes not satisfied w/ type of work
Tuesday 14 December 2010
In a company Little influence on what you end up working on (whatever got through sales funnel) Sometimes not satisfied w/ type of work
Moral/ethical disagreement
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Don't agree with the business model (e.g. personal data gathering)Moral/ethical disagreement e.g. church websites, or websites for political partiesLargely depends on employer. Everything is debatable.
€Company should be profitable...
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In the end a company has to be profitable.
People tell me:
“Sometimes you have to do things you don’t really like!”
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People would say: sometimes you have to do things you dont like. I disagree. I only want to work for people I like and I only want to do projects I like.
“You can only work for people you like.”
http://www.miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/essays/es3.html
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Milton Glaser said in his essay Ten Things I have learned: YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.
“Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realised that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection.”
Very good essay: read it, for everyone, not only designers http://www.miltonglaser.com/pages/milton/essays/es3.html
I would rather live on €1250 a month than do work I don't like to do.
Name your price.
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Name your price - Don't tell anyone you're making this because they have no idea what you end up with
taxes
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General advice seems to be: set aside half of what you make because you'll have to give it back anywayIf you earned €1000 count it as 500, 500 is going to be taxed anyway.
Work when you want to.
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Work when you want to I'm a night owl Hard time getting out of bed But I do have to keep a fixed schedule to get work done Just habits? I don't know
Work when you want to....from where you want to
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Work from anywhere
http://www.nomadz.nu
Interesting approach: Nomadz.nu
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Interesting: Nomadz"The travelling webdesigners"Webdesign allows for this: not much jobs doThen again, I still have a family, friends and a girlfriend
Why not freelance?
3
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Why not freelance?
Not onlythe designer
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Not only the designer, also other roles:
Sales & marketing(probably the most important!)
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Have to generate leads Built up reputation with blogging (500+ subscribers to Wolf's Little Store and 500+ subscribers to Catalog) Speak at camps: spoke at Barcamp, Arrrcamp, guest lecture at Kaho Gent Pet projects for fun (2008 and 2009 in review) Tweet your mind (800 followers, then killed account, now 250) Not about the number, but relevancy No real portfolio yet, all leads come from reputation and network
Traditionally by advertising
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I like self advertisement: blog
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Twitter honestly
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Continuity: build your portfolio
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Thomas (@bytte) says: build a portfolio for continuity
Project managerAccountant
Office assistantWeb developer
System administrator
Other roles:
Tuesday 14 December 2010
General manager/Project manager Have to plan your own projects You have to do that anyway in a company situation, discussing the planning: now you decide Invest money into the company or give yourself a higher wage/more goodies? Tough call, I don't know yet. Safest I guess: invest back into the company the first year. Get some savings.Accountant/administrative assistant You can have an accountant but he won't make your invoices He also won't set your pricingOffice assistant Someone has to get the coffee and do groceries
Outsource!?
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Maybe it’s better to outsource these tasks.
Investment: good coffee machine?
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My first investment: premium coffee machine?
9 to 5? Not really!
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No 9 to 5 If you fuck up, it's entirely your responsibility Schedule can quickly become chaos
Uncertainty
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Uncertainty Don't know when projects land Sometimes will be very busy, very quit Guess it's best to have a backup plan
Questions?
?
johan@johanronsse.behttp://www.wolfslittlestore.be
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Thanks for your attention!
Tuesday 14 December 2010